Contractors blast BSA

THE Building Services Authority has been described as a “toothless tiger” that has failed in its regulatory role at a time when it is needed the most.

Coolum Beach-based New Image Home’s collapse, which the Daily reported yesterday, has again turned the focus on what the BSA is doing to protect people from unscrupulous operators.

Many in the industry insist the fall-out from the spate of builders going bust on the Sunshine Coast over the past 12 months would have been considerably less severe had the BSA done its job properly.

They said the independent statutory authority’s incompetence had resulted in numerous smaller operators going to the wall or taking a major hit.

Every sub-contractor and supplier who spoke to the Daily yesterday lambasted the BSA, with all saying it needed to do more to police the industry during a period that one supplier described as “horrific”.

Allcoast Concrete Pump and Spray owner Mark Twomey, who lost nearly $16,000 when Coast business Panorama Pools collapsed this year, said the BSA needed to perform more company audits.

“They just need to police more – go through and do more audits on people,” he said.

“They’re slack. They’re too busy worrying about other issues.”

Sub-contractor Matthew Crichlow, who lost several thousand dollars when Warana business Orange Plasta folded this year, accused the BSA of taking licence money and doing little in return. He called on the authority to introduce job insurance for sub-contractors.

A supplier, who asked not to be named, said operators were working without a safety net.

“If the BSA is monitoring the industry like they say they are, then they should be warning sub-contractors that these people are in financial trouble and basically you work with them at your own risk,” he said.

BSA general manager Ian Jennings defended the body’s record.

He said it worked very hard to protect building and construction industry operators and had the most rigorous licensing requirements of any state or territory in Australia.

“There are also mechanisms which contractors can use to obtain payment such as the Building and Construction Industry Payment Act, which provides for rapid adjudication of payment disputes,” he said.